This invention relates to a system and method for providing call director functionality for enterprises in which there are many highly distributed field offices or locations.
A call director is an interactive voice response (IVR) system which allows a caller to self-direct their call to a particular extension or department without the intervention of a live operator. The call director and IVR are typically attached to a private branch exchange (PBX). A call is answered at the remote location by the PBX and it is then routed to the IVR. The IVR prompts the caller to select from a menu of choices to direct the call. Typically, if the caller knows the party""s direct extension, the caller can enter it to be immediately connected to the party. Otherwise, the caller must follow the menu choices or select a directory of employees in order to be properly connected.
Call director systems are typically used in a small business or single location situation. However, in certain cases, especially when dealing with retail operations or large companies having many employees or a large number of departments or products, the reasonableness of providing a simple menu-based or direct extension dialing scenario is diminished. In these situations, the large number of possible parties or extensions that may be called will cause the call director application to become too complex.
One solution to this problem would be to provide a large vocabulary voice recognition-based call director. This type of call director allows a caller to speak the department or the product name in which they are interested and, if the call director recognizes the caller""s utterance, the call director connects the caller to the appropriate party based upon the spoken information. The problem with this type of system is that voice recognition technology and the software required to run a large vocabulary voice recognition system is very expensive. As a result, if a voice recognition system is deployed at every one of the regional centers or remote offices, the system could become prohibitively expensive to operate and maintain.
In addition to the high cost, there are maintenance problems associated with these systems. In a large company with many remote locations, such as individual retail outlets, there would not be technical personnel at each location that are trained to operate and maintain complex telecommunications systems, such as a large vocabulary voice recognition call director, therefore, it would be difficult to keep such a system operating at each location.
Another solution is to provide a live operator that can interact with callers and direct calls. However, this solution is also prohibitive because the cost of having a live operator at every location is significant.
An ideal situation would allow calls to be handed off from individual remote locations to a centralized call center that would direct each call. This arrangement has problems because, although there is a centralized call center directing the calls, the incoming calls still go into the remote locations. The remote locations would try to direct the call automatically and, if they could not direct the call, then the caller would be transferred through the telephone network to a centralized call center. The central operator would have to interact with the caller and then direct the PBX as to where to connect the call. This solution presents an increased cost for the live operators in the central location and there would be increased telephone line costs associated with bringing those calls to the regional or central call center.
These and other problems are solved by a system and method in which all incoming calling connections are terminated at a call director at a remote location and that call director attempts to direct the terminated calls. When a remote call director is unable to identify a caller""s requested destination, then the system utilizes a large vocabulary voice recognition system located at a central location to route the calls. The call director module is placed at remote locations, such as at any retail store or remote regional office, and the centralized large vocabulary voice recognition based system replaces the functionality of a live operator at either the remote or the central location. The connection between the various remote call directors and the central location could be either through standard telephone network lines or a data network, but the caller""s connection to the system remains at the remote call director.
It is one feature of the present invention to provide an interactive menu to callers via the remote call director and to allow callers to dial a department or an extension by themselves under the control of the remote call director. If the callers are unable to complete the call by themselves, then they could ask for additional assistance. The system provides assistance by interacting, under control of the remote call director, with callers by using voice prompts which ask the caller to record the product or department name that they are interested in. The response from the caller, such as a product or department name, would be recorded and then passed asynchronously, either through a telephone or data network, to the central large vocabulary voice recognition system. The central voice recognition system operates to match the caller""s recorded request with a known department, individual or product. Once the caller""s request is identified, then the result is directed back to the remote call director to facilitate completion of the call.
Another feature of the invention provides back up operators that could listen to the utterance if the central recognition system is unable to identify and match the caller""s utterance. These operators could listen to the recorded request without speaking or interacting directly with the caller, thereby eliminating any overhead of conversation and dialogue with the caller. In effect, this arrangement would provide a live operator backup for the large vocabulary voice recognition system, but it would appear to the caller that the system handled the call without the assistance of a live operator.
An advantage of the present invention is that it eliminates problems associated with directing calls among a remote location call director, a central voice recognition system, a live operator and an ultimate destination. In the present invention, the incoming call is terminated at the remote location""s IVR system or call director and no further switching of the caller""s telephone connection is required. Accordingly, typical telephone system problems, such as impedance matching, line quality and signal loss, are substantially eliminated because the call is not transferred from the remote location to the central voice recognition system to the live operator. Since the call is terminated at the remote location, there will always be consistent, high quality voice interaction at that point. All of the interaction between the remote call director and the central voice recognition system and live operators will take place on a separate data connection.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.